In a paddle wheel type water-born vessel, propulsion of the vessel through the water necessitates the overcoming of the inertia of the vessel and the drag of the submerged parts of the vessel in the water. Present paddle wheel type vessels provide means for propelling the vessel through the water by means designed to optimize the forward propulsion component of force obtained by the paddle wheel. Numerous mechanisms have been constructed to manually or in a predetermined pattern periodically control the angle of incidence of the paddle wheel unit with respect to the surface of the water. However, no provision has been made for overcoming the drag of the submerged parts of the vessel by means of the paddle units attached to the paddle wheels.